SUSTAINABILITY AT BOARDMASTERS

BY CLAUDIA SAUNDERS

Across the years, Boardmasters has enforced various methods to make the festival a more sustainable and enjoyable event for all who attend; whether it’s the surf or the sounds. Having teamed up with the charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), the festival organisers have been able to take on a range of sustainable strategies to reduce its carbon footprint and to continue to work harmoniously alongside the local community and the environment. Festivals across the country can be detrimental to the surrounding nature.

The amount of litter left behind, abandoned tents, and pollution produced from festival goers is becoming outstanding. Boardmasters comes with more than just one challenge: the beaches. Fistral beach is predominantly occupied by the Boardmasters surf competition, but since music came to the stage in 2005, the plastic that has been left and dragged into the sea has caused an unwanted rise in pollution and sewage levels. Boardmasters set out to tackle these issues.

Kevin Moore, festival director at Vision Nine, has shared Boardmasters’ approach to sustainability and its progress toward being carbon neutral by 2023. In 2021, the festival used an onsite waste sorting and recycling plant to increase the amount of recycling across the event. This helped to reduce levels of contamination and pollution. Boardmasters has also helped cut the amount of vehicle movement around the festival; whether this is shuttle buses or heavy goods vehicles (HGV)which in the long run will help to reduce their overall carbon footprint. We all know that in a time like this, it is impossible to be completely 100% plastic-free and carbon neutral. But Boardmasters strives for this ambition every year, through the help of SAS and with the help of everyone who attends.

Through the SAS partnership and the formation of the Green Team, Boardmasters has put together some strategies that both volunteers, workers, and festival goers can use to create a greener and cleaner festival:

1. Boardmasters aims to eradicate all non-essential single-use plastic by 2021 by removing all bottled water from behind the scenes and ensuring all staff and artists have reusable bottles. As well as this, there will be an increase in free water refill points across the festival site and all main bars will be reusing cups. 2. Bans have been put in place regarding the use of non-biodegradable glitter and the use of plastic straws across all bars. 3. A litter bond initiative has meant that campers can collect a rubbish bag on arrival and if returned full they will receive a £10 levy for their participation. There has been an increase in Please don’t leave your recycling points across the campsite and festival site, meaning less litter left behind. litter behind. Be more sustainable. Be more friendly. Mother earth 4. 5. The festival now has a car park re-entry charge, encouraging the use of the shuttle bus service (all proceeds of which go to the Boardmasters Foundation for charitable causes. There are also multiple opportunities to take needs you! part in beach cleans across Cornwall, not just at Fistral and Watergate.

SURFERS AGAINST SEWAGE

SOS! SAS! The ocean needs you!

BY CLAUDIA SAUNDERS

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is a non-profit, charitable organization founded in 1990 by a group of environmental-activist surfers who wanted to make a stand against malpractice in the politics of sewage clean up. The organisation operates under volunteer and community engagement schemes, and have groups based all over the country. They help protect the marine environment to maintain a healthy coastal ecosystem and reduce anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment. Every year Surfers Against Sewage teams up with Boardmasters to emphasise the original message SAS was meant for. Combining a love of the sea and surfing, whilst keeping our beaches clean, and educating the public on the impacts that poor sewage filtration and disposal can have on our oceans. SAS have been a long-standing invitee to the Boardmasters Festival since 2001, where they received donations of up to £20,000 to help keep the sites clean of litter and help move towards a greener mindset when it comes to sustainability methods. Sustainability and an awareness of our impact on the local environment and community has been a part of the ethos at Boardmasters since the beginning. SAS simply helps to support everything they stand for, whilst being able to enjoy the music and the sport at the same time. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the vital importance of science-led action. It has also shown that global challenges require a global response. We need this same approach, whether it’s from global leaders or festival goers, where people can live sustainably and be aware of their carbon footprint even at events like Boardmasters. Simply by attending the festival, whether it is for a day or the whole weekend, you are taking part in helping to fundraise for Surfers Against Sewage and supporting the local environment and community in a sustainable way, whilst at the same time enjoying the culture.

Boardmasters is a symbol of where the charity began. So let’s enjoy the sea, the surf, and the sound together!

Ocean science and marine conservation graduate Emily Saunders, now current MSC student of Environmental Consultancy, became an ambassador for Surfers Against Sewage at the end of her first year at Plymouth University. Her huge passion for marine environment drove her to take on a bigger role for the organisation. Her interest in the subject continues to grow as the earth continues to adapt and dodge the growing threats from climate change and the negative effects of anthropogenic impacts. “I don’t believe enough is being done on a large enough scale and to a high enough level to tackle the ocean and climate crisis. I want to be a part of the transition to a healthier blue future.” Surfers Against Sewage already have a long-standing history with the festival. There is already a green footprint within their sustainability agenda and objectives. It’s a perfect fit. The organization is located right on the sea front so that people can see their campaigns and sign up for volunteering such as beach cleanups. The beach cleans cover Fistral, Watergate, Porth, Whipsiderry and Tolcarne. So, despite the popular use of Fistral beach for the festival itself, SAS do as much as they can to help the surrounding beaches. And so can you! You can visit the SAS website or find links through the Boardmasters website, to sign up to help volunteer at the cleans or donate to the cause to help provide clean up kits. You can even go one step further and become a regional ambassador for the charity, where you can organize and take part in campaigns such as writing to MPs, creating social media standings, and protesting. Hugo Tagholm leads the national marine

“I don’t conservation and campaign charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). believe enough is He is an environmentalist, award-winning campaigner, surfer, charity professional, and a TEDx speaker. Tagholm being done on a large enough scale...” is “delighted to have the long-standing support of the Boardmasters Festival, which helps takes our campaigns to a huge audience of young people who are now on the front line of environmental activism. We have always occupied a unique, energetic, innovative and creative space in the charity sector, fusing ocean activism, surfing and culture, so there is no better festival for us to drive our message.”